It's Like You Never Left (Lily.)

[Odion Martins]

There were many reasons for drinking, and Odion knew them all by heart. Tonight was a special night though, where he was especially hating himself and his poor decisions. He had shown Lani that letter what felt like ages ago, and he still hadn't sent the damn thing. Part of him wanted to, he had after all gone through the effort of writing and then rewriting it, getting everything as perfect as he could manage. Lani had warned him that this couldn't be just a letter, that he needed to expect to have some kind of relationship with his family in Ireland after this. Well, it was those words of warning that had made Odion stop himself from sending the letter. He didn't know what familial relationship would be expected of him, and honestly... What if he didn't want one?

Three quarters of the way through his spiced rum, Odion had been pacing from his apartment, to the mailbox in the entrance, and back again for the better part of an hour. The letter was so wrinkled that his family would wonder what kind of postal system they had in America. The redhead sighed, pocketing the letter for the umpteenth time and ran his fingers through his hair. Who knew the post would cause so much grief. It occurred to him that despite how many times he'd been to the mailbox, he hadn't actually checked his own in days. Capping the bottle and leaving it in his apartment, Odion made yet another trip to the mailbox, and rummaged through what had been delivered to either him or Jared. Mostly junkmail, and some more interesting titles for Jared. But there was one item in particular that caught his eye.

It was neither for him nor his roommate, but the name struck a cord that made Odion clench it tightly in his hand. He hadn't seen her in years and yet he felt like he hated her just as much as he had way back then, like it had been yesterday... Or perhaps that was the alcohol talking. And she lived in the same apartment complex as him - how had he not noticed sooner? Granted he wasn't really keeping as close an eye on things as he normally did, still, he should've noticed. It had her name on it, and his address, same apartment number, different floor. Sometimes he wondered if fate simply enjoyed tormenting him, or if he had deserved it in some way.

With his (or not his) mail in hand, he ventured to the next floor, doing his best to stay as upright as possible while the world around him seemed to bend and sway. It put a goofy smile on his face and had he not had something with her actual name right on the front of it, he would've forgotten exactly what he was doing, which he wasn't sure exactly what that would be yet. He had decided that by the time he knocked on her door, he would have it figured out. He wasn't one to keep track of time, and social etiquette was thrown out the window as he knocked vigorously on her door.

"Hey asshole," he started yelling in the hall, slumping against the wall opposite her door, "let me in so I can give you this, and a piece of my mind!" He was waving her mail around like some kind of prize, and he would not be denied. How dare she come back into his life this way.

[Lilly Love]

It had been a pretty typical day for Live. She had gone to work, had a reasonable day there, picked up some drinks on the way home, and was now sitting on her couch watching a sitcom and drinking her beers. At this point she really wasn't exactly sure what time it was but it was definitely past an average persons bed time. Good thing Live wasn't very average.

She was already onto her fourth beer when there was a sudden banging at her door. It was followed by yelling, which she could only make out the words 'asshole', 'give you', and 'mind' over the sound of the TV. The sudden interruption into her normal routine made the girl start a bit. Who the hell was at her door at this hour?

She pushed herself onto her feet, glancing down at what she was wearing first to make sure she wasn't about to answer the door without pants on or something (that had happened before). Thankfully she had on jean shorts and a black tank top. She made her way to the door, beer in her hand, only slightly tipsy but enough that it took some extra concentration to make it the door upright, turn the handle, and open the door.

The few beers had her more relaxed, and she was about to just tell whoever it was to shove off and go back to her TV, but that all changed when she saw the person leaning against the wall opposite of her.

"Do you have any idea wha--" She was about to start bitching about the late hour, not that she had any real concept of the time of night either, when her eyes landed on someone she hadn't seen in years and had honestly hoped to never see again.

"Odi?!" Live's eyes widened in shock as she took in the boy. Even though she hadn't seen him since her junior year, she could still easily recognize him; it was the same face she had been loathing for four plus years now. "What the actual fuck are you doing here?!" Her expression quickly changed from shock to pure anger and hatred as her fingers tightened around the bottle in her hand.

[Odion Martins]

Odion, still slumped against the wall, was finding it difficult to stand up on his own again. His breath smelled of hard liquor and his eyes were glossy. He almost dropped the letter while he waited. What was he doing again? He glanced down at the name. “Lilly Love,” he drawled out in almost a sing song voice, “I know you’re in there, what’s taking so long?”

He stood up as straight as one in his state of mind could, and didn’t bother to straightened his black v neck t-shirt, which looked as though he had been wearing it for days. At least he was clean shaven – drinking wasn’t really something he made a sport of these days, and tomorrow would be a bedrest day for the redhead. But at the moment, he had more pressing things to do.

“Surprise! Pleasure to see you love,” he said in a friendly tone that was meant to be ironic. He muscled his way past her into her apartment and spun around on the spot, taking a moment to get his bearings right. He glared at her, his eyes landing on the drink she had in hand. “Well aren’t you going to ask me in for a drink?” He asked belatedly. “I bring gifts!” He let all the mail fly out of his hand and drift in a mess on the floor. He frowned. Well, he hadn’t meant to give her his mail as well… “One of those is yours,” he said, not bothering to look for it.

Instead, he sauntered into her place and began looking for valuables to break. “I was here first, for the record.” He didn’t actually know that, but she didn’t need to know that he didn’t know. “But enough about me. How have you been? Come back to haunt me like the little cunt I know you are?” He smiled graciously. If she was going to insult him, now would be the time.

[Lilly Love]

Live was shocked and angered by the presence of Odion, and his ironically friendly tone, that it was easy for him to move his way into her apartment. She didn't even realize thats what he was doing until he was standing in the middle of her living room. As he walked passed her, she could easily smell the alcohol on his breathe. It wasn't hard for her to pick things like that out; she grew up with one of the finest alcoholics around.

"From the looks of it, you have already had plenty to drink.." She grumbled turning her back to the open door and setting down her beer on top of the old box TV, which was still playing an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Thankfully Live was not nearly as drunk as Odion was. She had only had a few beers and being such a regular drinker, she tended to be pretty composed when under the influence. Well, at least more composed than the drunk asshole in front of her. "One of them is what?" She snapped looking at the mail that the boy had just threw all around her living room. Part of her wanted to pick it up (not that her house was particularly clean anyways) but she also had no intention of cleaning up after a drunk Odi. None at all.

Here first? Was this his old apartment? The words confused Live and somehow the strangeness and suddenness of Odion's appearance was suppressing some of her initial anger. That was until he called her a little cunt. As those words left his mouth, both Live's fists clenched and her mind suddenly flashed back to junior year when she had punched him. The thought was so tempting but she knew that she had some restraint. She was suppose to be a 'mature adult' now.

"I'm haunting you?!" She nearly shrieked, "I'm the fucking cunt?!" Yes, somehow this was holding back, "I can't believe you would dare show up at my door, at this godforsaken hour, accusing me of that! If anyone here is doing any haunting right now, it sure as hell ain't me, you fucking asshat!"

[Odion Martins]

Odion shrugged. “I didn’t think you would be polite.” Not that he was being polite, but that was beside the point. He frowned as loud laughing came from the TV, but he wasn’t distracted by it for long. “Oh I don’t know,” he said, looking down at the mail. Hopefully Jared wouldn’t be too upset if Live decided to keep some of it, or burn it. “It had your name on it, might be important,” he said, giving a shrug. If she wanted it to stay a mess, that was her choice. It was her apartment after all.

Odion let his long elegant fingers trail across the edge of a shelf nearby while she spoke, half ignoring her, half finding her amusing. “Yes, and yes,” he said as though it were the most obvious thing, “you should remain a cuntly ghost from my past.” His finger bumped against a picture frame and he sent it to the floor, and it broke on impact. “Oops, sorry about that, I am quite tipsy after all.” He smiled, his finger tapping something else, sending it too to the floor.

“Are you going to be here long?” He asked, glancing up at her from his place. “I would very much dislike that idea.” Perhaps if he tormented her enough, she would go away. This was the only warning he would give to her. “You and I, we don’t have much in common, and I’m in no need of friends.”

He swayed across the room towards the kitchen and eyed the refrigerator. There had to be more alcohol in there somewhere.

[Lilly Love]

If this situation had occurred a couple years ago when Live had first moved into the building, things would not have gone this smoothly. Not that this was the shinning example of a smooth encounter but it was definitely better than it could have been. Live probably would have slugged Odion on sight for starters and then who knows where things would have progressed from there.

She looked at the mail on the floor. So someone had put her mail in his mailbox? Well if that wasn't fate just fucking with her... The ridiculousness of the situation really started to hit her then. After almost three years of not seeing the boy, he showed up at her door extremely drunk, apparently having lived in the same building as her unnoticed for almost a couple years now, with her mail that somehow got put into his mailbox by mistake.

It was all almost funny. The anger had started to fade from her voice a bit, and even as Odion called her a "cuntly ghost" there was a chuckle starting to form in the back of her throat. That all stopped tho as something crashed to the floor.

Her house wasn't particularly decorated or anything. There was a love seat couch, a coffee table, a TV, and a book case with movies, books, a framed drawing, and a couple couples. The kitchen had dishes everywhere and there was a table with papers and random stuff covering it along with a couple chairs. There really wasn't much in the house to break so when the sound of glass shattering hit ears, Live's eyes shot up at Odion and her expression quickly returned to pure anger. She was about to yell at him when he sent a little candle inside a glass container to the ground. Thankfully it wasn't lit.

"You little..." She was cut off as he questioned if she was making this her permanent residence. She saw him moving to the kitchen and moved to block his path. The two were about the same height, Live only slightly shorter, and she stood a couple feet in front of him, her eyes locked on his.

"This is my home. This is where I live. And just because your bitch-ass 'dislikes the idea', doesn't mean I'm going anywhere!" She hissed at him. Her eyes narrowed, her gray pupils starting to darken in shade. "Don't flatter yourself. I am in no need your friendship." Odion was probably the last person she ever wanted as a friend.

[Odion Martins]

Odion came face to face with Live, a permanent smirk on his face. All of this had just been bad timing, but he was beginning to have a hard time really remembering why he hadn’t liked her in the first place. Yes he had played mind games with her, which is why he would understand why she wouldn’t like him, at all. But still, why didn’t he like her?

“You may change your mind about that,” he said in a low voice. Threats were just words and he had no intentions of interfering with her life so long as she stayed out of his. Which apparently she had for the last couple years.

Lani’s voice seemed to flood his mind, reminding him that he was a good person, that he had changed. But then it was moments like these that made him wonder if he truly had. He crossed his arms. “Oh really? Because someone with a lot of friends lounges about alone?” Not that he was any better, but he was choosing to be along tonight.

“You should really look at your mail, I didn’t come here just to ruin your things, although that is mostly what I was going to do.” He said, side stepping her and still going for the fridge. All she seemed to have was beer, so he made a sour face and closed the door.

“Anything else you’d like to say before I go and leave you with your… friend?” He asked, a mocking smile on his face as he patted the TV, hanging on to it for just a moment as he regained his balance. “Or are you going to tell me you still have a school girl crush on me?”

[Lilly Love]

Being this close to Odion again made Live's skin crawl. She could feel the hatred and contempt she held for this boy pulsing through her. The old her wanted to beat the shit out of him but even that didn't feel like it would end up being that satisfying. She wondered if there was anything she could do that would really express her distaste for him properly.

She really didn't appreciate being threatened but it also didn't really mean much to her. This was her home and where she lived, no matter the proximity, was of no concern to Odion. She simply gave a humph in response and rolled her eyes. She honestly doubted that there was anything he could do to get her to leave. He did have time control on his side but Live had shadows, and those were everywhere.

"Who needs friends when I have beer?" She snapped. As the words left her mouth, Live realized how pathetic they sounded though. She had never been very good with comebacks but this one was especially bad. Sure she had friends. Just not that many or that close of ones.

She watched him look through her fridge and return to the door. She was about to just yell at him to get the hell out when something he said stopped her. School girl crush? School girl crush?! A realization suddenly hit Live and with the furry and alcohol surging thru her system, next thing she knew she had changed forms and shadow traveled to be right in front of Odion, just a few inches of space between them. Her hand instinctively grabbed his shirt and twisted, her fist visibly shaking. The whole motion took less than a second.

"School girl crush?! You think that I would still have a crush on you?" She couldn't even form the words right and her lip trembled as her brain tried to figure out what it wanted to say, "You think that after all these years I still hate you because of some stupid school girl crush!" It wasn't a question, it was a bold and assertive statement. "I had plenty of unreciprocated crushes before you and I had many after you but none, literally NONE, do I hate as much as I hate you. And if you can't figure out why...if you're little brain can't understand why I hold such a high disgust for you..." Live was literally seething at this point. Her eyes had changed completely from gray to black now, a sign of her losing control of her power, as her form, while still human, rippled with black shadows. Suddenly noticing the black rising from her hand, Live's still sober side quickly pulled away from Odion and took a couple steps back. "Just...just...." She tried to find the words but nothing came, "JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!"

[Odion Martins]

"You have poor taste in friends," Odion said, pity in his eyes, "now spiced rum, there's a friend not to be ignored." He couldn't help but smile at the thought. At least his habit was always there for him, always warm and never judgmental. He was starting to think he had a real problem with his closest friend. But at least the two of them had finally found something they could... semi, agree on.

Odion laughed, obviously not as bothered by how close she was to him as she wanted him to be. Then, suddenly, all humor left him and his eyes grew dark and serious. "Good, I'm glad you hate me so much, I'm clearly someone you can never and will never forget." Each word was pronounced, and he could feel the hate and rage rolling from her body like an aura trying to attack him. But she couldn't do it, she was weaker now - and so was he.

Amused that he had had such an effect on her, Odion laughed again as her fist unfurled from his shirt collar. "Next time you fancy being so close, just ask." God that was such a Jared line to say, but he couldn't help it, it was already out in the air and he didn't have the energy to try again. Clumsily he picked up his and Jared's mail while Live screamed at him, which, thanks to the ringing in his head, was completely drowned out.

"Well, ta ta," he said, giving her a broad smile. Never mind that he couldn't see straight. He reached for the door and decided he could use the hallway as support.

[Lilly Love]

Oh she wished she could forget Odion. She wished they made a mind eraser and she could wipe him from her memories forever. "Just get out..." Live said, her voice now level as she tried to slow her breathing and heart rate.

With age came a more mature power for Live. She didn't get much use of her shadow form expect for transportation and she could keep her emotions form becoming to strong for her power now too. Of course, Odion had really pushed the bounds of that tonight. If this event had occurred two years ago when she had first moved in, Live knew she would not have remained nearly as in control.

She watched as he stumbled towards the door. Her eyes were still black but the black aura had faded. "Does the little jackass need help getting back downstairs?"